"Mom, you don't have to apologize to me—and please, don't cry anymore. Seeing you sad… that hurts me too."
Ash's voice was soft but steady as he wrapped his little arms around Delia, comforting her with a gentleness far beyond his years.
Truthfully, he didn't resent her at all for not paying the League's Starter Registration Tax.
After merging with the memories of the six-year-old Ash, he now understood what kind of life this small family had lived—and what kind of pain his mother carried.
He'd never once seen his father in those memories. Not once. It was always just the two of them—mother and son.
For the original Ash, that had simply been normal. For this Ash—the one who had lived another life before—it all made perfect sense.
His father had been a ghost, a shadow who'd never returned from his journey. A man who had once promised greatness… and left only grief behind.
For Delia, though, that man wasn't just a memory. He had been her love, her partner, her world. And when he was gone, it was as if the sky itself had fallen.
So when Ash declared his dream to become a Pokémon Trainer, just like his father, of course she panicked.
She wasn't angry. She was terrified.
Terrified that the same dream that had taken her husband away… would now take her son too.
In the memories of the boy whose life he had inherited, Ash saw it all—how every time he wandered too far from Pallet Town, his mother would rush out in fear, tears in her eyes, to bring him back home.
He could almost hear her voice echoing from the past:
"Ash, the world outside is dangerous! Wild Pokémon can hurt you! Stay close to home, please!"
That was the trauma of a woman who had already lost too much.
And it wasn't just fear—Delia had grown to resent Pokémon themselves. The creatures that once filled her life with wonder now reminded her only of pain and loss.
It explained why, in a world where every household had at least one Pokémon companion, their home had none.
No Pokémon helping with chores. No Poké Balls on the shelf. Just emptiness.
But Ash remembered something—a faint trace of a story from his inherited memories.
Once, long ago, his mother had owned a Pokémon Egg.
It was a Mime Jr. egg—a gift from his father during his travels.
Professor Oak's neighbor, Aunt Miho, had once told the original Ash about it:
"Your mom used to have a Mime Jr. egg. Your father sent it home to her while he was still traveling. She treasured it deeply, you know. But after your father… left… she cried for days. The very next morning, she took the egg and threw it away in the forest."
Ash's eyes softened. So that was the story.
No wonder.
In the anime he remembered, Delia eventually owned a Mr. Mime—nicknamed Mimey—who lived with them and helped with housework.
It had seemed like such a lighthearted detail in the show. But now, knowing this truth, that cheerful Mimey carried a tragic echo.
Because maybe—just maybe—that Mr. Mime wasn't a random encounter at all.
Maybe it was the same egg—the one his father had sent her long ago, left abandoned in the wild, and somehow… it had found its way back home.
A small miracle born from guilt, grief, and fate.
Ash imagined it—the lonely egg left in the woods, rain dripping onto its shell, waiting year after year until it finally hatched. The little Mime Jr. growing up alone, wandering near Pallet Town, drawn back by the faint memory of the woman who once held it with love.
And one day, it saw her again—the same woman who had once cast it away. But instead of fear, it saw kindness in her eyes.
It had returned, not for revenge, but to heal her.
To bring laughter and warmth back into her home.
That was probably why Delia had finally accepted it—why she let herself bond with a Pokémon again. It was the last, quiet reconciliation between her heart and her past.
Ash couldn't help but sigh softly. "So that's it… Mimey might've been Dad's last gift after all."
But right now, his priority wasn't solving the mystery of his father or the fate of that egg.
He looked at his mother again, her eyes still wet and red.
"Mom," he said gently, "it's okay. Really. You don't have to be scared anymore. I'll be careful, I promise. And I'll make you proud—just wait and see."
He didn't want to erase her fear. He wanted to show her—slowly—that not all Trainers end up lost to the world. That Pokémon weren't monsters, but friends.
He needed her to believe again.
Because no matter what, his journey couldn't be stopped.
The summer camp organized by Professor Oak was coming soon, and that camp would be the start of everything—the friendships, the rivalries, and even… the girl named Serena.
If he was going to change his destiny, it would begin there.
But first, he had to change his mother's heart.
…
…